Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 2.1.3 · 2.1.3
Habrocomes laments his beauty
Read the full text in our reader
Ὢ τῆς ἀκαίρου πρὸς ἑκατέρους εὐμορφίας. εἰς τοῦτο ἄρα μέχρι νῦν σώφρων ἐτηρήθην, ἵνα ἐμαυτὸν ὑποθῶ λῃστῇ ἐρῶντι τὴν αἰσχρὰν ἐπιθυμίαν; Καὶ τίς ἐμοὶ βίος περιλείπεται πόρνῃ μὲν ἀντὶ ἀνδρὸς γενομένῳ, ἀποστερηθέντι δὲ Ἀνθείας τῆς ἐμῆς;
"Oh, our beauty, so ill-timed for us both! Was I kept chaste until now for this, then, so that I might submit myself to a pirate who loves with a shameful desire? And what life is left for me, if I become a prostitute instead of a man and am robbed of my Anthia?"
Word by word
The setting
Book 2, chapter 1. Habrocomes goes on, speaking to Anthia.
A note on this passage
At the start of the story Habrocomes took pride above all in the beauty of his body (1.1.4). Now he calls that beauty ἄκαιρος, "out of season," because it has brought each of them a pirate's love. ἀνήρ means both "man" and "husband," so "a prostitute instead of a man" also says "instead of a husband," and the next words name the wife he would lose: "robbed of my Anthia."
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 2.1.3 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 2.1.3 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/ephesiantale/2.1.3/